Chapter 11 Mia
MIA
I approached Café Bellissimo. Catrina was already there, perched like a queen in a crimson dress. Sunlight caught the warm threads of her hair; her smile broke like dawn.
“Darling! You look ravishing.”
“You’re one to talk.” I hugged her — the familiar curve of her shoulder, the comfort of someone who let me breathe. We slid into our seats. Menus were unnecessary. Caprese and mimosas for both.
“Spill it, Trina. I can see the glint from a mile away.”
She flushed — rare for her. Fingers toyed with the stem of her glass. “His name is Lorenzo. He’s… different. Exciting. Intense.”
“Intense?” I arched my brow. That thrill was familiar. Enrico lived in that word.
“Very.” A fire sparked in her eyes — warning and invitation, rolled into one. “He’s got connections, Mia. The kind that makes you question how far you’ll walk on the wild side.”
Everything she said described him. Enrico. Sexy as sin, dangerous as a blade, and for reasons I still couldn’t name, he’d latched on to me. The day he first told me I’d be his wife, my skin had known terror and something revoltingly delicious at once. And ever since that day, he invaded my dreams.
“Let’s just say he’s not the sort you bring home for Sunday dinner,” Catrina whispered, leaning closer. Curiosity clawed at the walls I’d built. Her brand-new danger looked too much like mine.
“Sounds intoxicating.” I masked the storm that brewed beneath.
“Absolutely intoxicating,” she echoed, and we clinked glasses.
The plates dwindled to crumbs. I traced the rim of my cup. “Catrina,” I began, and the words snagged. I pushed them out. “There’s someone. Enrico.”
“Enrico?” Her brows drew together.
I nodded. Saying the name aloud was like setting a spark on a wick. “He’s different. Dangerous. Everything I’ve rebelled against since I turned eighteen.”
“The same man who basically proposed to you the day you met?”
I nodded again. Mia might not know everything about my family’s world, and I’d like to keep it that way, but I’d mentioned a little about Enrico before. Small details.
“Girl, and he’s still pining after you?”
I nodded. Hell, even I didn’t understand why he hadn’t given up years ago.
“Your family name must change the rules,” she said, half-teasing, half-wishing. “I wish a man would be that dedicated to me.”
I’d consider her my best friend, hell my only one, but our lives were different.
If she knew what my last name meant, she’d probably stop inviting me to brunch.
So, for both our sakes, I’d never be completely honest. No one else took the time to hang out with me outside of doing it because of my name.
Catrina had been genuine since I bumped into her here. A breath of fresh air.
“So enough doom,” Catrina said, smoothing my hand with hers. “Tell me about him.”
“His world is shadows. I’m drawn to him and repelled at the same time.” Honestly, how the hell do I describe what being in the same room does to me? I can’t breathe. I can’t think. My common sense flies out of the window.
“Fear can be intoxicating, but sometimes you have to risk the fall. If we ran from everything that scared us, we’d never live.”
So many things in my life scared me. Hell my own father terrified me. Never knowing what side of him I would get at any given time. “Sometimes I want to run, but…” I stopped and tried not to look at her. “Something tethers me to him. It’s maddening. An invisible string.”
“There’s a reason he keeps coming back. Maybe you want him more than you admit. Nothing wrong with that. But he won’t wait forever. And from what you have told me… he sounds like a keeper. Sure he’s dangerous, but sometimes that can be fun.”
In a world where trust was rare, Catrina’s loyalty was a lighthouse. “Let’s get out of here.”
Outside the cafe, people were everywhere. Catrina hooked her arm through mine and pulled me toward the boutiques. Even if I tried to get out of shopping, it’d never work. I’d learned to just give her what she wanted.
The bell over the first shop chimed and she immediately drifted to a rack of dresses; I let my fingers ghost over scarves and handbags. I could afford anything in this store, a hundred times over, but Catrina doesn’t need a reason to start looking into who I was.
“Look at this!” she called, holding up a crimson dress, deep as a heart. “Try it.”
“Not my usual. You try it on.”
“I already have it in the navy. Plus, this color is so you.”
The curtain brushed closed. The dress slid over my head and hugged curves I usually kept in check. I stepped out and spun. Okay, so maybe she was right to push me outside my comfort zone.
Catrina clapped. “Enrico wouldn’t stand a chance. That man would be on his knees begging to taste you.”
“Maybe that’s the point,” I said, and for a moment we laughed like ordinary girls.
We hopped from shop to shop: silk blouses and leather boots.
Afternoons like this pushed the shadows back, at least for a little while.
Catrina’s orbit pushed the darkness away; that was why I loved her.
She helped me forget. I could be just an ordinary girl around her. Even if for just an afternoon.
Three hours later, our arms sagged under bags, but I needed to get home. “I’m gonna have to call it. My driver is probably getting antsy. Same time next week?”
“Of course. And when we do, I want more details on… what was his name again?”
I smiled and rolled my eyes. “Enrico.”
“Yeah, more details on him. Something tells me that you guys are meant to be.”
Catrina got into her car and drove off, while my driver took my bags. “Have a good afternoon, ma’am?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
The driver slid the trunk closed. “Home?”
“Yes, please.”
The car ride left my thoughts too much room.
If I said yes to Enrico about marriage, what was I really saying yes to?
Safety wrapped in wealth? A little more peace?
A life under someone else’s thumb? I wanted love — the kind that stole breath and didn’t come with a ledger.
The kind that didn’t come with fear and bloodshed.
“We’re here, ma’am.”
I stepped out and closed the door behind me. Then I gasped. He was waiting under the portico. He didn’t move when I approached.
“Enrico.” My voice steadied though my fingers tightened on my shopping bags. Why was he here?
“My love,” he answered — smooth as silk. The words landed like a dare. A chill skated down my spine: dread braided with something refused in daylight.
“Didn’t expect to find you here.”
“Life is full of surprises.” His half-smile didn’t reach his eyes.
Passing him, I turned back. “What are you doing here? Business with my father?”
He leaned in the doorway like it belonged to him. “Yes, business. Nothing to do with you…directly.” The stress on directly made my neck hairs rise. Coincidences didn’t exist in his world.
“Should I be concerned?”
“Concern is not what I wish to inspire in you.”
The knot in my stomach tightened: dread, curiosity, temptation. I wanted to ask more questions, but all the air was being sucked out of my lungs. “I’ll leave you to it, then. Goodnight.” I headed for the stairs.
“Goodnight,” he called after me, amused.
I shut my bedroom door and leaned against it, breathing hard.
A smile — small, reckless — tugged at my mouth.
The game was dark and addictive: matching wits with the man who was both threat and temptation.
I crossed to the vanity. Beneath that calm, a storm roared.
Enrico haunted the quiet: the angle of his jaw, the focus in his gaze that slipped past my armor, the way his presence rewrote the room.
He was danger personified — unapologetic power and the spark I couldn’t smother.
He was a storm I should flee. Instead, I was anchored to the window.
My palms pressed to the marble to steady them.
Could I resist him? His pull was a current; every encounter drug me farther, left me breathless and furious and alive.
A shiver ran over my skin. This wasn’t only about desire.
It was about survival: a contest of dominance.
In our world, love was a liability; wanting was a weapon.
I straightened. Resolve settled like armor.
Our collision course was set; the air between us bristled with the inevitable.
I was no one’s pawn. I was a woman making choices.
One last look in the mirror — steel in my eyes — and I turned away.
Each step was a promise: No matter what came next, I would not go quietly.